Red Moscow

"Commanders, commanders," Sokov stood up, and did not immediately satisfy everyone's curiosity, but asked first: "Do you know where our army group is?"

Hearing Sokov's question, everyone couldn't help being taken aback, thinking that we are not in the east of Moscow? Although they didn't understand the reason for Sokov's question, they still replied in unison: "I know!"

"It's good to know." There is a map posted on the wall behind Sokov's seat. He walked to the map, picked up the explainer stick against the wall, pointed to it and introduced to everyone: "Let's take a look first. Looking at the situation map of the enemy and ourselves, in the west and southwest of Moscow, there are the German Central Army Group and the Southern Army Group respectively. They have the strength to attack Moscow. But if they want to capture Moscow, they will face our army’s Western Front Army, Gary Ninh, Voronezh, and Southwest Fronts, and the Central Front, which is marching south of Moscow."

Sokov tapped twice on the map with his explaining stick, and continued: "In addition to the five front armies of our army, there are also a large number of troops stationed in Moscow. If the German army wants to break through such a powerful defensive formation of our army, come and It is basically impossible to achieve the goal of occupying Moscow. Since nothing will happen to Moscow, how can the enemy appear near the defense zone of our army? Since the enemy will not appear, then we waste a lot of manpower and material resources to build What's the point of a group of defense fortifications that don't serve much purpose at all?"

"Comrade Commander," Fomenko waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and immediately expressed his opinion: "I agree with your analysis very much, but the construction of fortifications in the defense zone is an order issued by the Front Army Command. We stopped work on the fortifications, and I was afraid I would be reprimanded by my superiors."

"General Fomenko is right." As soon as Fomenko finished speaking, Major General Gritsenko echoed: "This is disobedience. If your superiors want to pursue it, you may be sent to a military court."

"Major General Gritsenko, thank you for your concern." Sokov looked at Gritsenko and said in a friendly manner: "If the superior wants to hold him accountable in the future, as the commander of the group army, I will bear all the consequences. According to my analysis, the Germans may launch an offensive campaign against our army again in two or three months. Although the Prairie Front Army is just a reserve force, it will definitely be thrown into the battlefield as the battle progresses. I think all the division commanders and brigade commanders are very clear about the combat effectiveness of each division and brigade. If we don't hurry up to conduct military training and improve the combat effectiveness of the troops, we will just waste our energy on building fortifications and wait until we actually go to the battlefield. , I’m afraid everyone won’t be able to cry by then.”

Now that Sokov has said this, the commanders present understand that since the opponent has made up his mind, no matter how much he objects, the opponent will ignore it. Besides, he is the commander of the group army, and he has the final say on the internal affairs of the group army. Thinking of this, everyone began to express their opinions one after another, resolutely obeying Sokov's order, stopping the construction of fortifications in the defense zone, and concentrating on the military training of the troops.

Seeing that everyone was willing to obey his orders, Sokov couldn't help but nodded in relief, and began to arrange new jobs for his old department: "Commanders, I think your troops still lack commanders with rich combat experience. It’s a coincidence that when I came from the Red Army Village this time, I brought forty excellent commanders, and I plan to assign them to your troops.”

Regardless of the lack of experienced grass-roots commanders in each unit, everyone still felt somewhat resistant when they heard that Sokov was planning to put people in his unit. However, out of face, none of them raised any objections, they just thought about how to politely reject Sokov when he planned to deploy personnel to his army.

Sokov saw the expressions of the commanders present, but he didn't point it out. Instead, he called Belkin to the front and said to everyone: "This is Colonel Belkin. When I was in the Stella Battalion, he was my political deputy battalion commander; when I was the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, he was my brigade political commissar. Later, when I was the commander of the 41st Guards Division, he first served as the commander of the drawdown regiment The head of the regiment, and then served as the political commissar of the 124th Guards Regiment, and made great achievements in the battle to defend Stalingrad."

After briefly introducing Belkin's resume, Sokov glanced at the people present one by one, and asked, "Which teacher is willing to accept him?"

Originally, everyone was still worried about Sokov's placement in his army, but when they heard that the colonel in front of him had actually been Sokov's partner, the attitudes of all the teachers turned 180 degrees. U-turn. Gritsenko first said: "Comrade Commander, please let Colonel Belkin come to our division. I happen to have a regiment that lacks a regiment political commissar. Let him take up this position."

"General Gritsenko, Colonel Belkin is the old partner of Comrade Commander. You only give him the post of political commissar of the regiment, isn't it a bit too shabby?" Colonel Koida, commander of the 188th Infantry Division, said to Gritsen After Ko made a rebuttal, he asked Sokov flatteringly: "Do you think that when Colonel Belkin comes to us, I can give him the post of regimental commander?"

"I think it's better to come to our division." Fomenko said not to be outdone: "I can not only give him the post of regimental commander, but even let him serve as deputy division commander."

"Colonel Belkin," seeing several division commanders arguing over Belkin, Sokov hurriedly stood up to smooth things over: "The three division commanders, with Colonel Belkin's qualifications and abilities, only served as a regiment political commissar or The regiment commander is indeed a little inferior. Then I will officially appoint him as the deputy commander of the 84th Infantry Division, and concurrently serve as the regiment commander."

Hearing that Sokov had placed Belkin in his unit, Fomenko had a smug smile on his face. He knew very well in his heart that Sokov had a good relationship with Belkin, and he would definitely take care of him in the future, so that his troops would also benefit from it.

Having arranged for Belkin, Sokov began to arrange for Vanya. When the Sixth Army was rebuilt, Sokov felt that Vanya's rank was too low, so he took the initiative to promote him from major to lieutenant colonel. At this moment, Sokov introduced to everyone: "This is Lieutenant Colonel Vanya. He was the first to follow my subordinates. He fought me after all before the big counter-offensive under the city of Moscow started. In Stalingrad During the defensive battle, he served as the chief of staff of the 122nd Guards Regiment, and also made a lot of achievements."

As Sokov expected, several division commanders wanted Vanya to serve as regiment chief of staff in their divisions. In the end, it was Sokov who made the decision and let Vanya go to Colonel Shechtman's 254th Infantry Division.

The rest of the officers brought in were also recommended by Sokov to the divisions as commanders at the battalion and company level. Seeing that the divisions and infantry brigades were all assigned commanders with rich combat experience, Qiu of the 84th Marine Brigade Colonel Vashov was a little anxious: "Comrade Commander, you have appointed new commanders for several infantry divisions and infantry brigades. You can't be partial to our navy. Shouldn't you also arrange two?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel." In fact, so far, Lieutenant Commander Shamrih from the Marine Battalion, Lieutenant Shapovalenko, his instructor, and Lieutenant Yakuda, the deputy battalion commander, have not arranged work. At this moment, when a commander of the Marine Brigade asked about this, he said smoothly: "I still have three commanders from the navy. I can let them report to your unit."

"Great, Comrade Commander, this is really great." Colonel Chuvashov said excitedly: "Since they are all commanders from the navy, I believe that after they arrive in the army, they will be able to mingle with our commanders and fighters. "

After the meeting, other division commanders and brigade commanders left, but Poluboyarov did not leave, because Sukov once told him that he planned to replace his troops with more advanced T-34 tanks in the near future. He knew that the tank troops of the Southwest Front had encountered the new German tanks in late February. At the same distance, their own tanks could not penetrate the armor of the German tanks, while the German tank guns could easily destroy the Soviet tanks. Tanks, in order not to repeat the same mistakes on the battlefield, he was eager to let Sokov update the tanks for himself as soon as possible.

After listening to Poluboyarov patiently, Sokov did not immediately give the other party an affirmative answer, but said with a smile: "General Poluboyarov, you think you should lose weight and drink tea at ordinary times. You should put two less sugar cubes. Look at your belly, if you continue to gain weight, you, a tank general, might not even be able to get a tank in."

Poluboyarov is also a smart person. When he heard Sokov avoid the important point and lead the topic to other places, he immediately understood the other party's intentions, stood up quickly, and said to Sokov and Sameko: "Comrade Commander , Comrade Chief of Staff, if there is nothing else, I will go back first, after all, specifying a troop training plan is a very time-consuming thing."

After Poluboyarov left, Sokov asked Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, can our phone here talk to Moscow?"

"If you want to call Moscow, I'm afraid you'll need to switch through the switchboard." Sameko knew that Sokov would not ask this for no reason, so he asked proactively, "I wonder what department in Moscow you plan to call?"

Sokov replied curtly: "Department of Armaments, call for Colonel Yakov."

"Understood, I'll order someone to put you through the phone immediately." Sameko turned to the director of the Communication Corps and said, "Comrade Director, haven't you heard the commander's order? Hurry up and connect to the Weapons and Equipment Department, don't delay the business .”

The director of the communications corps came out, and within five minutes, the call to the Moscow Weapons and Equipment Department was connected. Sameko held the microphone and said to the duty officer who answered the phone: "We are at the front line here, and we have important matters to speak to Colonel Yakov."

Thanks to Sokov's assistance, Yakov often launched new weapons in the Weapons and Equipment Department, which not only made him famous, but also increased his position. Maybe there were too many people looking for Yakov, so the duty officer asked cautiously: "Who is looking for Colonel Yakov?"

Sokov heard the question from the officer on duty, and hurriedly said beside him, "Please tell Colonel Yakov that Misha is looking for him."

The duty officer had some understanding of Yakov's situation and knew that he had a friend named Misha at the front. Hearing that the caller was Misha at this moment, he didn't dare to neglect, and quickly said: "Please wait a moment, I will connect you to Colonel Yakov's office right away."

After the call was connected, Yakov's impatient voice came from the receiver: "Hello, who is it?"

"Yasha, it's me." Sokov called the other party by his nickname and said, "I'm Misha."

"Misha, is that you?" Yakov asked in surprise when he heard that the person calling him was Sokov, "Why are you free to call me today?"

"Yakov, I have something to ask you."

"Please?" Yakov said with a smile: "Is the army's rockets exhausted? I heard some time ago that you wiped out the Imperial Division and severely damaged the Skeleton Division and the Banner Guard Division. It's so exciting. .But I know very well that to achieve such a result, the consumption of rockets will be huge."

"You guessed it right, all the rockets in the army have been completely consumed."

"I'm arranging to expand the production line these days. When the new production line is put into operation, the number of rockets you can get will be doubled."

"Yasha, let's put the matter of the rockets aside for now. I don't think my troops will have a chance to fight the Germans within two months." Since the other end of the phone is my close friend, Sokov didn't go around in circles, but said bluntly: "What I want to tell you today is about changing tanks."

"Tank change?" Yakov asked with some doubts: "I don't understand what you mean."

"During the Battle of Stalingrad, didn't my troops seize a new German tank?" Sokov said into the microphone: "Our tank troops had a battle with this tank in late February. Combat. Unfortunately, the T-34 tanks we are equipped with today cannot penetrate the armor of such tanks at a distance of 500 meters or more."

"Misha, you are not engaged in the military industry, you may not know." Yakov said helplessly on the phone: "To develop a new type of tank, it will not be done in one or two months, it may take one or two years." , or even longer."

"I understand what you mean, Yasha." Sokov continued: "I am calling you not to ask you to develop a new tank, but to tell you that as early as in the Battle of Stalingrad, we It is equipped with an improved version of the T-34 tank, with improved armor and firepower."

"An improved version of the T-34 tank?" Yakov asked with some surprise: "How did you make it?"

"The Red October factory helped us produce it, but due to capacity problems, the number of T-34/85 tanks currently equipped with troops has not exceeded ten."

"Oh, it turned out that it was produced by the Red October factory." Yakov said thoughtfully: "Then I will immediately call the director of the Red October factory and ask him to provide me with relevant data. Misha , I will call you when there is news. I heard that you are now the commander of the Sixth Army, right?"

"Yasha, I regret to tell you that I am no longer the commander of the Sixth Army." Sokov replied: "The superior has just appointed me as the commander of the 27th Army of the Steppe Front."